6. How Are Charter Schools Held Accountable?

Authorizers are the entities granted authority by a legislature to approve, oversee, renew, and close charter schools. These are typically public agencies, such as local school districts (LEAs) and state departments of education (also referred to as state educational agencies or SEAs). In some states, however, the legislature may grant noneducational governmental agencies authorizing ability as well; examples include municipality or mayor's offices (NEGs), higher education institutions (HEIs), independent charter boards (ICBs), and nonprofit organizations (NPOs).

Authorizers play an important role in the charter sector. These entities decide whether a school may open and what standards must be met for it to remain open. They also have the power to determine if a school must close. Charter schools must demonstrate success to retain and renew their charter, and authorizers hold these schools to the same (or often higher) accountability standards to which district schools are held. The National Alliance’s model law recommends a state allow multiple authorizer entities (i.e., grant authorizing ability to an entity other than the LEA). However, to date, 14 states only offer one authorizing option, and eight only allow LEAs to authorize charter schools. The National Association of Charter School Authorizers defines which types of authorizers are allowed and operating in each state in their helpful resource Authorizer Types Across the Country.

LEA authorizers enrolled the largest share of charter school students (48%) in the 2019-20 school year, and they oversaw 47% of all charter schools. LEAs are overwhelmingly the most prevalent type of authorizer, with nearly 90% of the 921 authorizers across the country being LEAs. However, despite the overall prominence of LEAs, SEAs, and ICBs authorize a relatively large number of schools per entity. There are only 21 SEA authorizers nationwide, yet these entities enroll 23% of charter students and oversee 22% of charter schools and campuses. Similarly, ICBs authorize approximately 15% of student enrollment, as well as approximately 15% of schools and campuses. NPO authorizers exist only in Ohio and Minnesota, while the two NEG authorizers operate only in Indiana, which likely explains why those two entity types are the fewest in number.

The top 10 LEA, SEA, ICB, and HEI authorizers with the largest total enrollment account for 60% of all charter school students. We have listed these entities in the tables below. We do not include top 10 lists for NPO and NEG authorizers in this analysis because of their small overall size.

The largest LEA authorizer by enrollment total is the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). With 148,719 students, LAUSD alone accounts for more than 4% of the nation’s charter school students. Unsurprisingly, however, the LEA authorizers with highest enrollment levels are those located in dense urban areas or highly populated counties with many charter schools.

The largest SEA authorizer by enrollment is the Texas Education Agency (TEA). TEA authorizes charter schools attended by nearly 90% of Texas charter school students, which is significant given the state’s status as one of the biggest charter sectors nationwide. TEA enrolls approximately 10% of charter school students in the United States. The North Carolina Department of Education, New Jersey Department of Education, and Massachusetts Department of Education, which also have some of the highest enrollment levels, each account for 99-100% of charter students in their states.

The Arizona State Board for Charter schools (ASBCS) is by far the most prominent ICB authorizer as of the 2019-20 school year. ASBCS enrolls 210,119 charter school students, which is approximately 6% of all charter students nationwide and almost 99% of all charter school students in the state of Arizona. Other top ICBs also appear to be the primary authorizers in their respective states. The Utah State Charter Board, Nevada State Public Charter Authority, and the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board each account for approximately 80%-100% of charter school students in their jurisdictions. In this way, many ICBs appear similar to SEAs in that they are broad, state-wide charter authorizers.

Among HEI authorizers, New York’s SUNY Charter Schools Institute had the greatest total enrollment for the 2019-20 school year by a wide margin. With 100,027 students, the SUNY Charter Schools Institute accounts for nearly 3% of nationwide charter school student enrollment and about 60% of New York charter school student enrollment. HEI authorizers in general make up only about 10% of the charter sector in terms of both schools and students. It is notable that six of the top 10 HEI authorizing agencies are based in Michigan.